COMMENTARY: All signs pointing to Wolfpack in the NCAAs

Published: Saturday, March 15, 2014 at 11:03 PM.

Mike Krzyzewski has won four national championships. He’s been to 11 Final Fours and won more college basketball games than any college coach in the history of the game.

So if anyone on this planet knows what an NCAA tournament team looks like, it would figure to be him. That’s why the Duke coach doesn’t have much use for RPI, BPI, SOS or any other computer-generated acronym being used these days to determine which teams should be in and which out of the 68-team national championship field.

As far as his educated eyes, N.C. State is an NCAA tournament team. He told Wolfpack coach Mark Gottfried as much as they shook hands following the Blue Devils’ 75-67 win in the ACC tournament semifinals Saturday. He then told the media that there will be a lot of teams around the nation that should breathe a sigh of relief if State ends up on the wrong side of the bubble come Sunday evening.

“I don’t understand it, really,” Krzyzewski said when asked why the Wolfpack doesn’t get more respect nationally. “They won at Tennessee. They probably should have beaten Syracuse twice. They played a really good schedule and they’ve got one of the best players in the country. I wouldn’t want to play them in the NCAA tournament.”

For a while Saturday, it looked as though Krzyzewski and his third-seeded team might regret playing State in this tournament. Playing like a team intent on making a statement to the NCAA selection committee, the Wolfpack went toe-to-toe and then some with Duke for the better part of 25 minutes at Greensboro Coliseum. There were seven lead changes and 10 ties, including one at 45-all when Ralston Turner hit a 3-pointer from the left wing with 15:40 remaining.

But then, like Dale Earnhardt Jr. at Las Vegas two weeks ago, State ran out of gas coming around Turn 4 heading into the home stretch. The final few sputters came in the form of a 9-0 Blue Devils run, punctuated by an Amile Jefferson fastbreak dunk that was set up by Tyler Thornton’s steal from State star T.J. Warren near midcourt.

Though the seventh-seeded Wolfpack (21-13) hung on gamely from that point forward, the deficit was simply too much for a collection of legs worn down by the rigors have playing three intense, must-win games in as many days.

“I thought maybe we got tired in the second half,” Gottfried said. “We didn’t seem as fresh as we have been. They stepped up and made a number of (shots) and we couldn’t seem to make any.”

That was especially true for Warren. Though he still managed to score a game-high 21 points, the ACC Player of the Year had to work much harder than usual to get them. With Duke’s Rodney Hood hounding him similarly to the way he hounded Syracuse’s C.J. Fair a night earlier in the quarterfinals, Warren went 10 of 22 from the floor, missed both of his 3-point attempts and went 1 for 4 from the free throw line. He was also held to just a single field goal for the 19½-minute stretch from the opening possession of the second half to a window-dressing dunk with 5.8 seconds left.

While Duke takes on top-seeded Virginia for the tournament title Sunday, the Wolfpack will be back in Raleigh sweating out the hours until the NCAA tournament brackets are announced at 6 p.m.
“I still think there’s something special left in this team,” Gottfried said, “wherever that may be.”

With an RPI of 53 and a 2-8 record against the nation’s top 50, it’s more likely than not that Gottfried will be playing to get to the NIT Final Four in New York rather than the real deal in Dallas on April 5.

That is, unless the selection committee follows Krzyzewski’s lead and decides to trust its eyes rather than a bunch of numbers spit out of a computer.

Mike Krzyzewski has won four national championships. He’s been to 11 Final Fours and won more college basketball games than any college coach in the history of the game.

So if anyone on this planet knows what an NCAA tournament team looks like, it would figure to be him. That’s why the Duke coach doesn’t have much use for RPI, BPI, SOS or any other computer-generated acronym being used these days to determine which teams should be in and which out of the 68-team national championship field.

As far as his educated eyes, N.C. State is an NCAA tournament team. He told Wolfpack coach Mark Gottfried as much as they shook hands following the Blue Devils’ 75-67 win in the ACC tournament semifinals Saturday. He then told the media that there will be a lot of teams around the nation that should breathe a sigh of relief if State ends up on the wrong side of the bubble come Sunday evening.

“I don’t understand it, really,” Krzyzewski said when asked why the Wolfpack doesn’t get more respect nationally. “They won at Tennessee. They probably should have beaten Syracuse twice. They played a really good schedule and they’ve got one of the best players in the country. I wouldn’t want to play them in the NCAA tournament.”

For a while Saturday, it looked as though Krzyzewski and his third-seeded team might regret playing State in this tournament. Playing like a team intent on making a statement to the NCAA selection committee, the Wolfpack went toe-to-toe and then some with Duke for the better part of 25 minutes at Greensboro Coliseum. There were seven lead changes and 10 ties, including one at 45-all when Ralston Turner hit a 3-pointer from the left wing with 15:40 remaining.

But then, like Dale Earnhardt Jr. at Las Vegas two weeks ago, State ran out of gas coming around Turn 4 heading into the home stretch. The final few sputters came in the form of a 9-0 Blue Devils run, punctuated by an Amile Jefferson fastbreak dunk that was set up by Tyler Thornton’s steal from State star T.J. Warren near midcourt.

Though the seventh-seeded Wolfpack (21-13) hung on gamely from that point forward, the deficit was simply too much for a collection of legs worn down by the rigors have playing three intense, must-win games in as many days.

“I thought maybe we got tired in the second half,” Gottfried said. “We didn’t seem as fresh as we have been. They stepped up and made a number of (shots) and we couldn’t seem to make any.”

That was especially true for Warren. Though he still managed to score a game-high 21 points, the ACC Player of the Year had to work much harder than usual to get them. With Duke’s Rodney Hood hounding him similarly to the way he hounded Syracuse’s C.J. Fair a night earlier in the quarterfinals, Warren went 10 of 22 from the floor, missed both of his 3-point attempts and went 1 for 4 from the free throw line. He was also held to just a single field goal for the 19½-minute stretch from the opening possession of the second half to a window-dressing dunk with 5.8 seconds left.

While Duke takes on top-seeded Virginia for the tournament title Sunday, the Wolfpack will be back in Raleigh sweating out the hours until the NCAA tournament brackets are announced at 6 p.m.
“I still think there’s something special left in this team,” Gottfried said, “wherever that may be.”

With an RPI of 53 and a 2-8 record against the nation’s top 50, it’s more likely than not that Gottfried will be playing to get to the NIT Final Four in New York rather than the real deal in Dallas on April 5.

That is, unless the selection committee follows Krzyzewski’s lead and decides to trust its eyes rather than a bunch of numbers spit out of a computer.